Tag:

Historical

Review

No. 10 Doyers Street

by Henrietta Thornton

The hero of Vatsal’s (Kitty Weeks series) latest absorbing historical fiction is Archana (Archie) Morley, a woman braving two new worlds: 1910 New York, where she came for a short visit but stayed after her parents died in Bombay (the novel uses the era’s language), and journalism, working for the Observer newspaper. This charming, gutsy character is barely tolerated by the boss and looked upon with suspicion by her coworkers—perhaps for wearing pants as much as for her race and gender. At home, things are better: Archie is married to the loving and supportive Dr. Phillip Morley, a health department official whose job and tony background give her access to wealth and power. But she’s interested in intriguing stories from every part of town, and won’t let go when Chinese gangsters are killed and the city imposes stern measures on Chinatown. They specifically target tiny, crooked Doyers Street, home of Mock Duck, the steely leader of the Hip Sing Tong gang, whose calm demeanor is belied by the list of gruesome crimes he’s been accused of. The racism endured by New York’s Chinese inhabitants is on stark display as Archie works to report the tangled goings on among Tammany Hall, the city’s Board of Improvement, and the gang underworld. Adding wonderful flavor is the rich detail from Vatsal’s deep research on New York City social and political history, and the gulf between the city’s “more susceptible classes” and its well-off citizens. For fans of Vatsal’s previous works and of historical fiction by Mariah Fredricks and Anna Lee Huber.

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Review

Abduction of a Slave

by Brian Kenney

What’s great about Stebenow’s Eye of Isis series—this is the fourth title–is its wonderful balance of history and mystery. The book is set during the reign of the all-powerful Cleopatra, seventh of her name, and we are treated to all the intrigue, gossip, and even fashion that one could wish for. At the same time, the ancient world is readying itself for war, with Caesar expanding troops in Sicily. Tetisheri, Cleopatra’s own Eye of Isis, gathers information both for herself and at the beck of her Queen, who surprisingly granted her leave from Alexandria to engage in some information seeking. In this novel, Tetisheri accompanies her uncle, an important trader, on a trip to the Kingdom of Cyrenaica, both to acquire more goods but also to be on the lookout for Cleopatra’s interests. Cyrenaica is awash in conflicting rumors, including those about Julius Caesar, his archenemy Mettelus Scipio, and King Juba I. Tetisheri must use all her skills to monitor what is happening in the Kingdom while also resolving a murder close to home. Mystery readers with a penchant for history will be delighted by this book.

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Review

Gabriel’s Moon

by Willy Williams

In his 2013 James Bond novel, Solo, Boyd sent the iconic secret agent to 1969 Nigeria. While the protagonist of his new book shares Bond’s love of good liquor and beautiful women, he is a reluctant spy, and the author here is interested in exploring the morally murky world of Cold War espionage, double dealings, political murders, and defections. It is August 1960, and British travel writer Gabriel Dax is interviewing Patrice Lumumba, the Prime Minister of the newly independent Republic of the Congo. Lumumba, who insists the interview be recorded, mentions that certain foreign powers aim to assassinate him. On the flight back to London, Gabriel notices an attractive older woman reading one of his travel books. Other odd incidents occur. Gabriel’s editor cancels the Lumumba piece and demands his notes and tapes, which is not standard journalistic practice. Instead, Gabriel buries the tapes in his garden. The woman on the plane, Faith Green, turns up at Gabriel’s door and asks him to do “small favors” for MI6, similar to the ones he does for his elder brother, Sefton, in the Foreign Office. Gabriel initially refuses but falls under Faith’s seductive spell and embarks on his first assignment in Spain. The writer is soon caught in a twisty labyrinth of lies and betrayals, and, like Michael Corleone in Godfather, Part III, gets pulled back into the spy game each time he tries to extricate himself from the manipulative Faith’s machinations. At the same time, Gabriel struggles to understand, through analysis, the childhood trauma—his mother’s death in a fire—that has scarred his life. This first-rate complex and suspenseful historical thriller will resonate with fans of John le Carré and Alan Furst.

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Review

The Quiet Librarian

by Brian Kenney

As a single, 47-year-old librarian in Minnesota, Hana Babic leads a quiet life. Until one day when a police detective stops by the library to inform her that her best, and really only friend, Amina, has been murdered. Hana and Amina share a history that extends back to the Bosnian War, when Hana witnessed the rape and murder of her entire family by Serbian soldiers, murders Hana swore to avenge. Joining Bosnian militia fighters, Hana transformed herself into a fierce warrior who became known as the deadly Night Mora—a legend among Serbian troops. But with a price on her head, she eventually poses too much of a risk to her fellow soldiers, and is sent to the Bosnian community in St. Paul to reinvent herself. Amina’s murder decades later does more than just reawaken Hana’s horrible memories. It convinces her that she is being hunted, and to survive, she must reawaken the Night Mora, drawing Amina’s murderer into a trap. Written in chapters that alternate between Bosnia in the 1990s and present day Minnesota, the book eventually merges into one astonishingly powerful narrative that is nothing less than genius. Like Eskens brilliant The Life We Bury, this would make an excellent choice for a book discussion, especially since many participants will know nothing about the Bosnian War. Eskens includes scenes of sexual violence and other war crimes.

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Review

The Queens of Crime.

by Henrietta Thornton

In this marvelous locked-room puzzle, we’re treated to a masterclass in solving mysteries from the grand dames of the form: first-person narrator Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries) and fellow Queens Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot et al), Baroness Emma Orczy (the Scarlet Pimpernel), Ngaio Marsh (Inspector Allen), and Margery Allingham (Albert Campion). As a way to be better accepted into the Detection Club, the members of which have expressed “a certain hesitancy…around having ‘an abundance of women’ in the ranks,” the women undertake the investigation of a real crime, the disappearance of a young English nurse while on a trip to France. Dorothy’s journalist husband has been assigned the story and his work gives her a reason to go to the crime scene, the other women secretly in tow–and they’re off. Meticulously following the nurse’s activities before she disappeared, as well as her life before, leads readers into a delicious look at writing conventions of the day as well as how women skirted the low expectations that sought to hold them back. Fans of the writers in question as well as of childhood favorites such as Enid Blyton’s Famous Five will enjoy the old-timey air of innocent sleuthing, while the women’s growing determination to do right by the young victim adds a satisfying air of kindness and steadfast morality. A delight from beginning to end.

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Review

Princess of the Savoy

by Henrietta Thornton

For glitz, drama, and mystery, there’s no better setting than a fancy hotel, and it doesn’t come fancier than London’s Savoy. It’s the swinging ‘60s in the late Emery’s (Death at the Savoy, Scandal at the Savoy) last book, her third starring a quiet champion of the hotel’s steely reputation, press officer Priscilla Tempest. (Emery was herself a press and public relations officer at the hotel.) The young Canadian is used to the casual sexism that is women’s lot in the era, but Europe’s classism is harder for her to take, and when two dueling cousins, Italian princes, arrive as guests, her patience is sorely tested. One of the princes fears he will be the subject of a story by “that blighter Percy Hoskins at the Evening Standard,” and stopping the muckraking story at the behest of her boss leads Priscilla into the lairs of London’s underworld gangsters and some decidedly upper-class ones, with England’s very way of life on the line. A fast-moving story whose initial frothy air is a clever mask on the serious stakes soon underway. Readers will want to go back to the first two books in the series, and after that can try Nita Prose’s hotel-set Maid series.

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Review

Betrayal at Blackthorn Park

by Willy Williams

It’s November 1940, and Evelyne Redfurn has returned to her London boarding house after six secretive, grueling weeks of training to be a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) agent for the British government’s Special Operations Executive (SOE). But before she can relax with her roommate and best friend, Moira, she’s called up for her first assignment. Hoping to be parachuted into occupied France (her mother was French), Evelyne is disappointed when she is sent instead to investigate the possibility of theft at a weapons research and development facility in rural Sussex. Worse, her handler is her old sparring partner, David Poole. On Evelyne’s first night, however, a routine probe becomes a murder case after she stumbles upon the body of Sir Nigel Balram, the leader of the engineering team at Blackthorn Park. His death appears to be an act of suicide, but drawing on the sleuthing skills she honed in A Traitor in Whitehall, Evelyne and David race to identify a killer before Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s impending visit. The clever and resourceful Evelyne is an appealing protagonist, who struggles to maintain her close friendships without revealing her double life as a spy. Her budding chemistry with David is obvious but doesn’t distract from the main plotline. Fans of Susan Elia MacNeal’s Maggie Hope series will delight in following the adventures of a promising new World War II spymaster.

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Review

Murder Takes the Stage

by Brian Kenney

Mysteries and the theater make for wonderful marriages—there are scores of examples—and this recent contribution from Colleen Cambridge is completely on point. Agatha Christie and household have temporarily moved from her country estate, Mallowan Hall, to London. The exiles include Phyllida Bright, Christie’s housekeeper (and so much more, including amateur sleuth). But Phyllida is a bit stressed out. She has a love/hate relationship with London—something is making her nervous—plus there is the staff to manage, including the temporary faux-French chef. But enough with the escargot, there’s a murder (Archibald Allston in the Adelphi Theater) followed by another (Benvolio at the Belmont Theater). See where this is headed? Death by alliteration, unless Phyllida gets there in time. This delightful mystery provides a fun look at London’s historic theaters, a glimpse at London’s LGBTQ nightlife, a splendid dénouement right out of a Christie novel, and most remarkably of all: a love interest for Phyllida. Lots of fun to be had here.

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Review

A Death in Diamonds

by Brian Kenney

It’s hard to imagine, but one of the very best series has gotten even better. While the first three books were set around 2016, and featured Rozie Oshodi, Assistant Private Secretary (APS) to the Queen, here we jump back to 1957. The Queen is a young woman, still new to her role as monarch; the U.K. continues to recover from the Second World War; and a new APS emerges out of the typing pool: Joan McGraw, whose wartime work included decoding. This case is centered around a notorious murder: a young woman, a high-class escort, is found dead in a house in Chelsea that belongs to an elite men’s club. She is wearing only silk underwear and a diamond tiara. Nearby lies the body of an older man, garrotted. The double-murder grips Londoners, including the Queen, who has her own reasons for fearing that someone close to her could be implicated. Elizabeth doesn’t trust the old courtiers who surround her and turns to Joan for help in solving the case of the “tart in the tiara.” Besides a bang-up plot, this novel reaches brilliantly into Elizabeth’s life, from real-life state visits to Paris and North America, trying to bolster the U.K.’s relationships, to her tumultuous relationship with Philip, to her fear of a scandal that could take down the monarchy. This is deep, rich writing that should attract the millions who enjoyed The Crown, and want yet more.

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Review

The Case of the Missing Maid

by Brian Kenney

A wonderful foray into turn-of-the-19th-century Chicago, with women entering the workforce, immigrants transforming the city, and the LGBTQ community tucked away in hidden nightclubs. Harriet Morrow, all of 21 years old, is the first woman hired as a detective by the prestigious Prescott Agency—a decision that pleases almost no one, neither the male detectives nor the female typing pool. But working as a detective has always been a dream of Harriet’s, and now, with her parents dead and her younger brother to support, it’s a necessity. So too are the pants she wears, giving her the freedom to comfortably bike around Chicago while also exploring her identity as a lesbian. Within an hour on the job, Harriet gets her first assignment: to find a maid who has disappeared from one of the posh mansions on Prairie Avenue—and Harriet has only a few days to locate her. It’s magical how Osler transports us around Chicago, from the the large Polish community to queer social spaces to the ritzy homes of Chicago’s elite. Harriet is a wonderful lead character, and Osler brilliantly combines his protagonist’s growth into adulthood and Chicago’s emergence as one of the nation’s largest cities. This book is asking to be the first in a series

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